


Phases of the Moon

by iceprinceofbelair



Series: Lupin Ficlets [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 22:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3225032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iceprinceofbelair/pseuds/iceprinceofbelair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Molly Weasely found out that a werewolf had been teaching her children, her first instinct was to bristle. As she spends time with Remus at Grimmauld Place, her views on the subject change somewhat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phases of the Moon

When Molly Weasely found out that a werewolf had been teaching her children, her first instinct was to bristle. What kind of oaf was Dumbledore to expose children to such a dangerous creature? She did not even entertain the possibility that he had not known. A topic about which Dumbledore was utterly ignorant was difficult to come by and even rarer when it came to the staff he employed. Dumbledore knew everything about everyone; of that, Molly was both certain and terrified.  
  
So, when Remus Lupin arrived at Grimmauld Place, escorted by Dumbledore and embraced by Sirius, Molly was understandably wary. She knew no positive stories of werewolves, only what Fred and George had told her about the one who currently sat across the table from her. Their claim that he was the best Defence teacher they'd ever had was praise indeed, particularly since they'd had Guilderoy Lockhart as a teacher just the year before. Still, in Molly's eyes, Remus Lupin was first and foremost a werewolf, a dark creature she'd been warned away from in her years at Hogwarts. It was a fact she found difficult to ignore.

Over the following month, Molly observed Remus and Sirius together quietly. Through careful eavesdropping, she discovered that they had been at school together, best friends with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. She learned that they were very much the Fred and George of their time. She learned that they were both very much in need of the other's company - both had had their worlds destroyed on Hallowe'en night 1981 and both had waited twelve long years to be allowed to build it back up again.

Remus began to look healthier than he had upon arrival. His skin took on a healthier tone and his eyes didn't look quite so tired. For that, Molly was glad because the improvement allowed her to briefly suppress the conflicting emotions she'd felt towards him in the beginning. Of course, it didn't last.

The thing about full moons is that they work on a cycle. They always come back around.

The thing about Remus was that the full moon affected him in more ways than Molly could have understood before she met him face to face. The dark circles returned to his eyes and she heard him pacing his room at all hours of the night, muttering to himself. He ate little, took frequent naps, and lost all previous colour in his cheeks. In short, he looked worn out and run down and Molly, conflicted as she was, simply couldn't find it within herself to deny him the care his body clearly needed.

She found him curled up at the end of the couch at three o'clock in the morning one Thursday, hands curled around a mug of lukewarm tea. For a moment, she listened to his breath wheezing in and out of his chest and that was when her conscience took over. Werewolf or not, Remus Lupin was exhausted and, by the sounds of it, ill. Remus Lupin was in desperate need of his bed.

"Remus?" She ventured cautiously, feeling her heart catch when those tired eyes met her own.

And then he did something that amazed her. He smiled. He smiled such a genuine, kind smile that Molly was taken aback. After all the weeks of coldness she'd shown him, after the letter she'd sent to Dumbledore, after all her feelings of distrust and fear, he still found it within himself to smile like it didn't matter, like he wasn't exhausted.

"Hi, Molly," he returned and Molly winced at the sound of his voice scraping painfully in his throat. She took aa seat beside him and conjured a blanket which she wrapped around his shoulders, tucking him in. He chuckled. "It's been years since somebody did that for me."

His tone was a strange mix of nostalgia and nonchalance and, in that moment, he reminded her very much of Harry whose jokes at his own expense seemed always to be laced with an undertone of sadness. Yes, she thought, they were very much alike.

Molly pressed the back of her hand to his neck, feeling the burn of his sweaty skin. She frowned. "You should rest."

Remus flashed her a sad little smile. "Nothing to worry about."

"You're burning up," Molly told him firmly, summoning a flask of soup from the kitchen and removing the stasis charm she'd placed on it after dinner that evening. She plucked a small vial of potion from the coffee table and examined it. Pepper-Up.

"From Madam Pomfrey," Remus explained quietly. "Severus brought it with him but he's advised I don't take it until after-"

He stopped. Molly didn't need to wonder at his words. She found herself wondering if Remus went through this every month.

Not for the first time, she re-evaluated her initial impression of the man who sat before her now.

"Here," she whispered, offering the soup and pushing his damp hair away from his forehead gingerly. "You'll need your strength, from whatI gather."

Remus smiled. "I'm quite used to it by now, believe me," he said but he took the soup anyway and sipped it slowly.

"How old were you?" Molly caught herself asking before she could stop herself. She immediately launched into an apology and assured him that such a question did not require an answer but he silenced her with a dismisssive wave of his hand.

They sat in silence for a moment before he said softly, "Five."

It hit her hard, that reponse. It weighed on her chest like a tonne of bricks. Five. Just five-years-old and subjected to a life of stigma and intolerance. Molly felt ill. More than anything, she was ashamed of herself. When she looked at Remus now, with that knowledge at the forefront of her mind, she couldn't help but see him as a helpless child - defenceless, blameless.

And even after all those years of living among wizards who'd happily kill him, being taught that his existence warranted extermination, believing that he didn't matter as much as his friends simply because of this part of himself; even after all that, he still smiled. He held his head high. He understood why people hated him, he accepted it, expected it. And Molly understood why Remus had never been put off by her distrust. He'd never expected anything else.

Just like that, Remus was her boy and she knew in that instant that she'd defend him like she would her own.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't doubt that Molly, like all witches from magical families, was taught to fear and hate werewolves. But I firmly believe that her mothering instinct is her most powerful trait and how could she feesibly see Remus sick and tried without that instinct kicking in?
> 
> I have a lot of love for Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin just breaks my heart.


End file.
